A hazard is something with the
potential to cause harm. Some examples are trip hazards in corridor, glare from VDU's,
moving heavy objects and using chemicals.

An assessment is an
investigation of the use or potential use of a hazardous substance/equipment/operation in
the workplace to understand and minimize the risks to the health or safety of workers
using and/or carrying out that substance/equipment/operation.

Aim

Risks associated with a hazard need to
be assessed to determine how severe (or dangerous) they are. Assessing the risks allows
decisions to be made as to what hazards or risks need to be controlled and to set
priorities for introducing controls.

Level of Risk

= LIKELIHOOD (PROBABILITY) multiplied by SEVERITY (CONSEQUENCE)

Training, material safety data sheets (MSDS), statistics and codes of pracetice (CoP) can help with estimating the consequence and likelihood of an injury
occurring in a group of employees.

Factors

To determine the level of risk, all of
the following need to be considered:

Severity : This factor concerns the
extent of the injury or degree of harm caused if exposed to the hazard (e.g.,. fatality,
major injury, minor injury, no injury).

Probability : What is the
likelihood of harm occurring if a person is exposed to the hazard? This could range from
inevitable through to unlikely.

Exposure : The significance of the
risk of injury on illness/harm may be affected by the level of exposure to a hazard.
Exposures would take into account how often employees are exposed to a hazardous
situation (frequency) and the length of time of this exposure (duration).

Human Differences : Hazards need to
be assessed in terms of the individuals who are exposed:

- their skills

- experience

- training

- physical capabilities

Principles of Occupational Health
& Safety

The term OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
encompasses those environmental hazards that :

- exist in the short term only

- occur randomly over time

- are potentially disabling at exposure

Some examples of occupational safety hazards are a
fire, a fall, a gross chemical spill, a machine accident.

The term OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
encompasses those environmental hazards that :